Phanniemay Challenge 16
by EchoGhost1
Summary: It's that time again, again, again! This is for Becca's Danny Phantom prompt theme challenge, the 2016 edition! I will be (hopefully) writing a series of One Shots for each of the themes. I'll try my best to do them all! Rated K just in case. (NOTE: PopStar AU was created by Kikaiz of Tumblr) Newest Prompt - Folklore
1. Day 01 - Origins

"But where did they come from?" That was the simplest way to pose her graduate thesis. Everyone had a basic knowledge of what a ghost was, despite the non-believer aspect. Although the _where_ was what she really wanted to know, along with her two lab partners of course.

Before she met Jack and Vlad she thought she was the only one serious enough about this "para-science". Everyone else in her class seemed to only be there for the thrill of it, she was there for science.

Her lab mates worked together to come up with the theory that ghosts did not in fact come from our world, but a parallel one. Now if only they could prove it.

It took research, field studies and even more research but eventually they came to the conclusion that there were natural portals that connected to two dimensions, but they seemed to operate in the purest form of random Maddie had ever encountered. The lack of order and regularity was not helpful.

And then Jack had the most brilliant idea, "why not just make a machine that can bust through to the other side?"

Why not indeed.


	2. Day 02 - FentonWorks

This place has many names.

Familiar. Safe.

He grew up in this house, he slept here (most nights) and all his stuff was here. Having the ecto-shield and all the defenses was... nice. Well when it wasn't used against him anyway.

Business. Dangerous.

His parents worked at home, basement lab, rooftop ops center, kitchen table. They invented all the gear he used daily, and nightly.

It was also the same gear he had to avoid.

And the portal? It was about as helpful as it was hurtful. Holding enemies and friends, it gave him his powers... maybe killed him a little.

But it was home and he couldn't imagine it any other way.


	3. Day 03 - Road Trip (Popstar AU)

He had been on tour for months now and he was still surprised that no one had figured out that he was a superhero.

It's not like he was stupid about it, he had duplication down pretty well so he could save the day and rock the show at the same time, no sweat. But still, every time Phantom appeared Fenton had a show in that city, surely someone would notice.

Despite his better instincts, he decided to finally do it... to Google himself. Selves? To his surprise he did find something about him and Phantom, but not what he was expecting.

Apparently there was a brief article that was in some independent newspaper that ended up getting a lot of attention from his fans from that area that then spread it via the internet. Where in they have all decided to agree that the reason Phantom shows up near his shows is because Phantom is his number one fan and that he wants to make sure that he is safe, and that's why he's following the tour.

He could work with that.


	4. Day 04 - Ember

"So Ms. McLain," he interviewer started.

"Oh please, call me Ember."

"Right Ember, how could I forget?" he joked "sorry bad joke."

She rolled her eyes, "whatever."

"Anyway, thank you for agreeing to meet up with me"

"No problem"

"So, a lot of us are wondering, what exactly inspired your hit 'Remember'? Is there a true heartbreak in your past or is this a very convincing fiction?"

"I see you aren't wasting anytime with small talk." She joked before answering, "But yes actually there is a true story behind the song."

"Would you mind telling us the story? Who was it that couldn't remember you?"

"I-" she paused, mouth still open in mid-speech. _Who was it that couldn't remember her? Who had it been? What was his name again?_ Her eyes searched as if his name might be written on the walls of the cafe or on the sidewalk underfoot.

"Ember?"

"Gosh this is so embarrassing, I feel like such a dipstick" she chided herself.

"What is it?"

"I just forgot _his_ name. Guess that's a pretty good revenge hu?" they both laughed at the irony.

"Well I guess the only way to say it now is that the song is about my ex. He had been cheating on me and I only found out because he called be by _her_ name." or at least she thought that's how it went...

"Ouch, that must have been a rough time for you."

"Yeah, but that's all in the past. Now it feels like a I'm living a whole new life, I barely even remember how cruddy I used to feel. "

"Well that's good to hear. How's about we finish this up with a fun a question."

"Shoot"

"What's your favorite part about performing?"

"Oh that's an easy one! It's when the whole audience is chanting my name. All that energy just flowing from the crowd, there's nothing like it."

"That sounds like a special kind of high."

"Oh yeah, the best!"

"So your drug free then?" he asked with a smirk.

"Other than the crowd? Yeah, I don't see the point."


	5. Day 05 - Dance

The Dance was coming up and there was every reason in the world _not_ to go.

The music would suck, she didn't like 90% of her classmates and because she had to open her big stupid mouth Danny was going with that vile creature known as Paulina. Not that she was jealous of that, it's just her friends deserve better.

And yet... she _really_ wanted to go. She had already convinced her parents to buy her this really cool dress and who cares if most of the songs would be lame, requesting music was always an option. And she was pretty sure the dark and the party lights would be too distracting for her classmates to do anything to annoying.

Now if only someone would ask her, because who wants to go alone, right?


	6. Day 06 - Wes

It was easy for Wes to trace back to where it all began.

He had come in late to the locker room after gym because he had helped Ms. Tetslaff clean up the equipment in the weight room. He had just finished up changing when he heard someone come barging in.

Wes perked up to see that Fenton kid run past and mutter something about ghosts? The red head rolled his eyes and went to go ask what was going on because if there was a ghost attack going on out there he'd like to know so he didn't walk right into it.

Wes rounded the corner of lockers and was blinded by a flash of blue-white lights. By the time he blinked the spots out of his eyes he found himself alone. Somehow Fenton had entered the room and disappeared.

At first he didn't really think much of it, weird stuff happens at the school now that ghosts are real, and Fenton was a weirdo from he had heard. Who knows maybe he hadn't seen him run in at all and the light fixture blew? Despite the light never going out...

It wasn't until a few weeks later that it all started to make sense. The team had just won the last game, by one amazing free throw shot in the final seconds thrown by yours truly, and the guys went to the Nasty Burger to celebrate. Everything was fine up until all the boxes in the place flew into the air, the cold metal napkin container smacked him right in the face, instant bloody nose.

With no napkins to use, Wes quickly bee-lined to the bathroom and hoped there was some toilet paper or paper towels that he could use. He forgot the Nasty Burger had air-dryers, so he made his way into the nearest stall and locked himself in. of course this stall was out of paper, so he just sat on the tank of the toilet and let the blood just flow into the bowl below him.

While he waited for the ghost fight to be over he wondered how he was suppose to get blood out of his jersey. As long as the attack got coverage on the news tonight he probably wouldn't get in too much trouble with his dad for the mess. It's not like it was the first time he'd gotten a little bloody up.

He was about to leave the stall when he heard a strange sound, like a cold wind rushing through bare tress. Which was not only out of place, but out of season.

Wes paused and heard a voice, "Stupid Box Ghost. Why do you always have to make such a mess? Can't I just have, like ten minutes to myself?" the voice echoed off the bathroom walls, but also itself, and it made Wes's skin crawl.

He pulled his feet back up onto the toilet seat and silently hoped that his converse wouldn't slip in or that the ghost would find him. Then there was the light again, this time it wasn't so bad with all the stalls in the way.

And stranger still, Fenton's voice, "I hope my shake hasn't melted too much. It's just not nearly as good that way."

After that is was all downhill for Wes Weston.


	7. Day 07 Amity Park - A Nice Place To Live

The bus passed a friendly billboard; "Amity Park, A nice place to live!" it claimed with a smiling couple in front of their cookie-cutter suburban home. 

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "It's only nice if you're a malevolent ghost." She thought to herself, pulling her backpack closer to her chest. As long as there wasn't another attack until after 5th period she'd be fine. She had a very important Chemistry test today and she was not about to have wasted her chance to see Nathan at the movies last weekend because she studied for a test canceled because of ghosts.

Originally the test was last week but some ghost had flown threw the Chem. room and all the tests got destroyed before they could be handed out.

At first it was great! She hadn't actually studied for it the first time because she was watching the Oscars with her BFF Taylor and well, they said it was a study party...

If only she hadn't of outed herself by saying she was glad she hadn't wasted her time studying... that was the quickest grounding she ever experienced.

And then to make if bad to worse, it was that weekend that Nathan had FINALLY asked her out, and she had to decline.

Why did ghosts have to be real during her senior year? She was almost out of this stupid town, but if school kept getting canceled and evacuated she'd never graduate on time.


	8. Day 08 - Vacation

_This_ was just what he needed. A break from the ecto-blasts and bone-breaking body slams. To be free of all the stress of being on time and test deadlines. A sense of relief, instead of the chill of his Ghost Sense.

The relaxing feelings of vacation lasted about 3 hours before he started to feel anxious. After weeks and weeks of near constant fighting and then to face all of this peace? Was this a trap? Months of catastrophes and now he was just suppose to relax and do whatever?

He needed to get back home, like now. Vlad could be plotting some gross scheme to steal his mom again or maybe just the box ghost was terrorizing the post office? With his luck it could just as easily be both.

"Danny please don't tell me you are going to be like this all weekend." Tucker asked his eyes not staring at his PDA, for the moment.

"What? No! Be like what? I'm fine. I'm not being like anything."

"Wow," Sam slow clapped in mock amazement, "Hey Tuck, remember that time Danny became an excellent liar?

"No."

"Me neither." She crossed her arms and glared disapprovingly at Danny.

"Oh ha-ha guys, such wonderful friends I have." He chided sarcastically leaning back against the wall.

"Oh come on, we came on this super fun vacation to the city for the weekend, that was _your_ idea remember, and now you're being weird."

Danny slummed more into the wall, a small portion of him using intangibility to actually be part way in the wall so he could be in an even deeper slouch. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry guys, it's just that I'm used to being so busy and stressed out. Relaxing just feels... weird."

"Must be a curse." Tucker added simply.

"What?" both Sam and Danny turned fully to face Tucker, Danny unphasing out of the wall and floating slightly off his seat.

"You're just not allowed to be a normal dude. Even when you're chillin' you're gonna be stressin'."


	9. Day 10 - Folklore

Ever since it was first spotted, people wondered where it had come from. Why did if look the way it did, so young and in such a strange outfit? And why did it insist on saving people as it claims to do, amidst all the property damage.

Some people thought that with the dark suit it was a kid who had drowned in a scuba class and it wanted to keep people from suffering the same fate. But then others quickly debunked that by saying that the ghost wasn't wearing any other scuba or swimming gear and it's not like it only or usually showed up near water.

So then a few others thought that maybe The Fenton's had something to do with it. Because they wore some pretty similar full body suits... maybe the kid was an intern that got caught up in an accident or maybe it was a straight up sacrifice for their weird cult pseudoscience! Of course once the Fenton's actually heard about this they, publicly and very loudly did everything in their power to prove that that wasn't and never could happen.

For awhile after that the speculating and rumors got quite. That is until a quick news interview with the ever elusive Phantom said it was a high school student, almost like it still actually went to classes.

After that the origin stories were everywhere. The one that ended up gaining the most traction was one a student had started by doing a homework assignment. The class had to write a paper on some of the town's history and one of the students got the school as their topic. It turned out through their, surprisingly thorough, research that the current school is not the first version of the building. The first version of the school had burned down in the early 1900's. During the fire it seemed all had escaped the blaze nearly unscathed, until they heard the cries of a lone student still trapped inside. The Fire Department was still on its way so one brave boy, named Daniel Peters raced back in and saved the young girl. Unfortunately, he never made it back out.

Included with the paper was a class photo with Daniel circled. The boy was slender and had light hair, most likely blonde, but it was hard to tell for sure being a black and white photograph.

The running theory is that the Ghost Boy, Danny Phantom, is just the ghost of Daniel trying to keep the school and his fellow students safe. As for his choice in clothes, maybe that was the best he could remember himself looking after being burned alive.

For now it seems that story seems to be the truth, unless of course the hero of the town would stick around long enough for a real interview.


	10. Day 24 - Music (Popstar AU)

One day his agent, Vlad came to him and said, "Look, Daniel, if you really want to make it big you have to write a break-up song."

"What? I have plenty of catchy tunes! Why do I specifically need a break up song?"

"Because my boy," the old man chided, "every great pop star has one. Love songs and heart break are what really fuels a singer."

"You have so much to learn, little badger." Vlad chucked and pat Danny on the shoulder, "just think back to your school days if you have too."

And so he did. It took him most of the day and even after he had started he had to keep editing it, changing words to make a better flow, adding lines to make the song longer than a minute without just saying the chorus 57 times. Takes things out and adding them back in. but finally he figured it out. He just hoped it wasn't secretly garbage.

The chorus started the song and set the mood.

 _I'm gonna haunt you baby_

 _Like a bad dream_

 _Like a nightmare come to life_

 _I'm gonna haunt you baby_

 _Like a bad dream_

 _Like a nightmare come to life_

 _You're gonna wish you knew who to call_

 _just to banish me tonight_

 _Get a preacher and a hunter_

 _You'll have to catch and exercise me_

(Chorus)

 _but the best part is_

 _the best part is_

 _that I'm not really there at all_

(Chorus)

 _It's all in your head girl_

 _that's just a shadow on the wall_

 _Just a trick of light_

 _Not me creepin' down the hall_

(Chorus)

 _snappin' pictures in the dark_

 _Oujia out and bible ready_

 _Candles lit_

 _and mirrors covered_

 _Get your salt out_

 _grab your cross_

 _Every theory, myth and legend_

 _Is gonna fail you quick, be steady_

(Chorus)

 _1 2 3_

 _What's that sound in the attic?_

 _4 5 6_

 _What's that hiding in the distance?_

 _7 8 9_

 _That a whisper or the wind?_

(Chorus)

 _Gonna haunt you_

 _Gonna haunt you babe_

 _Gonna haunt you_

 _Gonna haunt you babe_

 _Gonna haunt you_

 _Cuz you made a big mistake_

Danny looked over the lyrics one last time, singing the song just under his breath to get the timing just right. Once he was satisfied, he grabbed his mic and hit record.


	11. Day 26 - Summoning

Danny capped the thermos on ghost of the day's threat of vengeance and landed next to his friends.

"Glad that's over." Tucker commented as he tapped something on his trusted PDA. "And hey, we've still got some time if you wanted to do a quick study session at my place?"

"Do we have a test tomorrow?" Danny asked alarmed not remembering anything about that.

"No, it's just a short quiz over the latest unit in Biology. You missed the announcement because of that ghost fight before lunch." Sam explained.

Danny let out a sigh of relief, "Ok, sure a study session sounds-"

"Hello is anyone there?" a small voice echoed in interruption.

Danny turned toward the sounds finding nothing but the empty park and a distant streetlamp buzzing. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Other than you cutting yourself off in the middle of a sentence? No." tucker answered.

"Why what did you hear?" Sam asked elbowing Tucker for his rudeness.

"I thought I heard-"

"Hello? If you're there please let me know." The voice spoke again. Now he could place it as a young female voice, but not one he'd ever heard before tonight.

"That." He gestured in the general direction, which to his friends must have seemed like empty air.

They exchanged glances then shock their heads.

"I'm just going to check it out then. I'll meet you at your place, Tuck." Danny explained as he floated off to investigate.

"Danny, wait!" his friends called, but he ignored them. It was probably nothing anyway.

He flew away from the park towards the older side of town, which was around where he lived actually. He remembered his parents mentioned that older houses were more susceptible to hauntings than newer ones.

"If anyone is there please just answer." She asked again.

Although he could feel he was closer, the voice wasn't getting much louder. Clearer yes, but it stayed a whisper. Now it was more like she was talking right into his ear than from across a large empty room.

He flew past a small two story home and noticed the soft flicker of candle light coming from the attic. As he got closer he realized this was the source he'd been looking for.

In amongst a halo of candles was a young girl, maybe about 10 at the oldest. The dramatic shadows caused by the candles made it difficult to truly tell.

She sat cross-legged and hunched over. He had to move all the way up to the window to see what she was focusing on. He turned invisible on his approach to keep from startling her and noticed that she was using a Ouija board.

"I'll ask you one more time tonight, ok? If anyone is there, _please_ let me know."

It took a moment for it to connect in Danny's clueless head that as a Halfa, he totally counted as the 'anyone' she was looking for.

Without being able to come up with a reason why not, he slipped through the wall invisibly and sat opposite her, mimicking her cross-legged position.

She looked up when the candles flickered with the breeze of his unseen movement.

He gently moved the planchette to spell out 'Hi'.

Her eyes shot wide open, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" she looked around frantically, took a breath, then asked, "What's your name?"

He waited a beat and then spelled out 'Phantom'.

She didn't lift her eyes from the board, "Phantom?" she breathed, "As in the Ghost Boy hero, Phantom?"

'Yes' he had the board indicate.

"Oh geez, I didn't think I'd get you! You're like a celebrity!"

He chuckled and spelled out 'thanks'.

She tensed when she heard his echoed laugh, then leaned forward, "Are you in the room with me?"

He moved the piece to "yes"

She starred at the board, her expression hidden by her auburn hair and darkness. "Would you rather talk out loud?"

Turning visible, he moved the piece to 'yes', "Sure."

She bolted upright, eyes wide and looked on the verge of screaming.

"Oh no no no! I didn't mean to scare you!" he felt so bad, he'd appeared like that in front of Sam and Tucker all the time and they never seemed to mind. He had forgotten that most people wouldn't be so use to his powers.

It confused him to no end when she started laughing.

"Seems kind of odd that a ghost didn't want to scare me, right?" They both got a kick out of the irony.

"So you know my name, but I don't think I ever got yours?" Danny asked leaning back, using his arms to support himself.

She let out a small squeak of surprise. "Oh, right! I'm Charity. Sorry I always forget that part." She looked away hugging herself in insecurity.

"That's ok, I'm not that good with people either." He admitted.

She looked up at him through the strands of her long dark hair, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. But you know what? I bet there's something you are really good at." He thought he could see a faint blush in the dim light, he couldn't tell for sure so he just kept talking. She reminded him a lot of himself and figured if that was true, she could use a pick me up. "Like me for example, I could tell you anything you could ever want to know about space or NASA, but I'm failing Math... and Bio... most of my classes actually..." he rubbed the back of his neck feeling really awkward about sharing how much he sucked at school.

She blinked a few times before she spoke, "Ghosts go to school?"

"Yes?" Crud, now he was going to spill his whole secret identity to a little girl? Well no time like the present to work on his lying skills. "If we want to. Which I do. And I usually sit in the back so no one really notices me." He shrugged, trying to hide how he was mildly impressed with himself.

She swept her hair behind one ear and looked at him with deep concern, "Don't you ever get lonely?"

"Sometimes." He smiled half-heartedly, "I used to really want to fit in with the popular kids but it dawned on me one day that it just wasn't going to work. That I just didn't want to waste any more time on people who hated me, that would only accept me if I were to change myself completely. I mean sometimes I still wouldn't mind if they at least could be somewhat nice to me, so I try being nice to them, but then I get nervous and my powers act up. Or I just say really stupid things that I regret _as I'm saying them_."

"Right! And then you just want to pretend that it never happened, but that's the one time they were actually paying attention to you and then they use it against you _forever_!"

In unison they sighed and agreed, "People suck."

They locked eyes and laughed again, both pleased that they found someone who knows how hard it can be to not fit in.

"But wait," she started, "Don't you rescue your classmates all the time? I heard the high school is the worst place for ghost attacks."

Without thinking it through he answered truthfully, "Yes! When I'm in hero mode, they can't get enough of me, but bam!" he clapped his hands together so they slide against one another, his right hand going forward while his left shot back, "Back to class and it's 'out of the way nerd'!"

She cocked a brow and straighten her posture, "You look different when you go to school?"

Double crud, this kid was a lot smarter than he was expecting, "You can keep a secret right?"

"Even if I had anyone to tell, they wouldn't believe me anyway." She answered frankly.

He frowned when he heard that, "Firstly, I'm sorry to hear that, but yes. Some ghosts can appear human. And I'm sorry I can't show you what it looks like, gotta keep the secret identity a secret."

She looked only somewhat disappointed, like she expected as much, and nodded, "Yeah, I get it."

They talked more and more until the candles slowly burned themselves out. Danny didn't even notice how much time had passed until he realized that that was 15th time he saw her yawn. He looked to the window to see the early morning blue filling up the sky.

Alarmed he popped to his feet, not noticing when his legs fused into a ghostly tail, "Oh my gosh! I kept you up all night! On a school night! What time is it even?" He pulled out his phone, cringing at the sight of all the missed texts and calls but clicked that away. "6:15?! You have to get ready for school! I have to get to get home! My parents are gonna kill me! I have test! I didn't even- ugh!"

He realized he'd been pacing through his whole rant and turned back to Charity who started at him with confused and bleary eyes. "I'm gonna go now." He gestured his thumb over his shoulder to the window, "Feel free to call again, but maybe next time save it for the weekend? Can't have me messing up both our GPA's."

"Ok Dad." She teased.

He felt his face grow red, or green rather, "I'd come up with some witty retort, but I'm running late." And with that he flew off hoping he wouldn't be in too much trouble when he made it home.


End file.
